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I'm hoping to get some speed improvements with my 2008 Mac Pro by replacing the system hard drive with a new OWC SSD, and upgrading from Leopard to Snow Leopard with a clean install. I'll move my 10.5.8 system drive to a firewire enclosure to fall back on in case anything goes wrong. My DP projects will remain on a separate audio HD, and VI samples will stay on a dedicated sounds drive.

I'm debating whether to use Migration Assistant or not. My current system has been fairly trouble-free, but I probably have lots of garbage hanging around since I migrated from my G4 3 years ago. I've been reading the warnings around here about M.A., but I'm not so confident about my ability to get my email, system and network settings, calendars, bookmarks, etc. successfully moved by hand. Re-installing DP, Waves plugs, and device drivers from scratch seems doable, but re-installing dozens of DVDs for EWQLSO (Play and Kontakt), Stylus RMX, EZDrummer, Complete 6, Complete 5 (for backwards compatibility) is daunting. So much so that I probably just wouldn't do it, and would be tempted to stay with 10.5.8.

What would you do?

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Stay away from MA. It's tempting because it's so fast and easy, but I wouldn't use it for my music production system!

I'd reinstall everything from scratch. PITA, but you will enjoy a more solid system and avoid any potential MA-related trouble.

If I don't use MA, will I be able to have Time Machine continue to use my old Time Machine backup? I have a year's worth of incremental backups that I'd like to keep adding to rather than having to have TM start a new one.

Also, would I need to create a new user account with the same name I've been using in Leopard so I won't run into permissions errors? Until now, I've just been using a single user account with administrative privileges, but I'd like to setup Snow Leopard to have a separate admin account for software installation, and a non-admin user account for daily use.

Before I got my iMac, I did a lot of testing on this.

You may use either Migration Assistant or Time Machine without fear. I found restoring files from Time Machine to be a bit slower but no less safe.

There is something to be said for installing everything from scratch. I can't think of anything good, however, as it takes days instead of hours using MA or TM.

You will have to re-authorize DP using the original CD and activation code. If any programs use internet authorization, de-authorize first or it's a call to tech support.

...except that Mig Ass will copy some problems to the new disk. The upper tier Apple tech guys told me this about 18 months ago when I was experiencing severe permissions problems as well as iPhone weirdness. I was told by at least two of the upper tier guys to NOT use Mig Ass.

I had used it successfully in the past, and would actually consider using it again as long as the system I am copying from is working perfectly. But if there are any odd issues, or if I want to be positive that hidden problems don't get copied, I'll do a manual reinstall.

Time Machine has worked great to restore systems here as well. Never a problem and saved many files. Way more useful than I thought and more than advertised. Wouldn't be without it.

Clean install everything. Much safer that way. You can import mailboxes and messages and address book and stuff separately.

Thanks for the advice. I'm now convinced that I should avoid Migration Assistant and install everything from scratch.
Which means I'm probably not going to do it.

I'll use SuperDuper to clone my existing 10.5.8 system drive to the SSD when it arrives, but I don't think I'll be upgrading to Snow Leopard. This isn't my day job, so it could take a few weeks for me to re-install and authorize the 50 or so applications, plugins, VIs, and drivers that I still want to use.

What will I be missing? The App Store, Magic Trackpad compatibility, built-in anti-MacDefender updates. It just doesn't seem worth the time.

I'm going to be the odd man out and put in a vote for migration assistant. When I upgraded from my G5 to my 2008 8 core intel I used it and was up and running that day. I'm sure it's better to start from scratch but I never seem to have the down time. I also just had to downgrade my system last week from 10.6.8 to 10.6.7 and used time machine for the first time to do that. Worked like a charm. Good luck.

Not the odd man at all. If you system is healthy MA can work great. More often than not, it's due to system errors that requires a new drive and hence the avoidance of copying errors. But o ce again, if your system is sound, MA can make your life easy.

Okay, new plan.

Since I already bought Snow Leopard, and my system has been trouble-free for a while, I'll install 10.6.8 on the new SSD and use setup assistant to copy over my account and applications, then take it for a test drive to see if anything has broken. My original 10.5.8 drive will remain untouched, so I can always clone it to the SSD if there's trouble. I should be back up and running either way within a weekend.

Please keep us posted. Good luck! May the force be with you. Live long and prosper. Give 'em hell! Speak softly and carry a big backup...

SSD and Snow Leopard arrived. I'm going in. Raising deflector shields. Switching off targeting computer. For Gondor! For Gondor!

The migration was a success, with only a few unexpected hitches. I had to find and delete two DP7 authorization files before DP would reauthorize. I neglected to deactivate my Adobe CS3 bundle before migrating, so I had to contact Adobe to get that sorted out. I had to reauthorize my Nik Software photo plugins and EWQLSO Gold Kontakt library.

The first attempt to clone a backup of the new drive with SuperDuper froze the Mac. Drive Genius found and repaired a catalog file error on the SSD volume, which fixed the SuperDuper cloning problem. All told, after leaving it to migrate overnight, it only took about 3 hours of time sitting in front of the computer to get everything sorted out.

I haven't worked in DP yet, but I opened several DP projects that have various VIs and plugins, and poked around a little bit. Everything seems to work fine.

While I was at it, I also upgraded the memory from 6GB to 8GB, so now I have 4 2GB modules. I could put the 2 original 1GB modules back in and have 10GB, but I remember reading somewhere that there is an advantage to having 2 or 4 matched pairs over having 3.

Compared to the old 10.5.8 install with a spinning system drive, boot, login, sleep and shutdown times are noticeably shorter, and applications launch faster. Files open at the same speed as before, but that's to be expected since my project files and VI samples are still on spinning hard drives.

Thanks for the help, everyone!

Me want...! Thanks for the update. Hope it all goes great for you. Sounds like a very nice system, indeed! My old Leopard system is drooling!!!